Naruto: Redemption!
by RahvinsCage
Summary: In a world of hate, is is possible to turn one's destiny around and bring the world back into the light? One boy will decide one way or another whether the shinobi world will be ruled by the hatred inherent in they're very social structure, or if they will become a world that still has compassion. Not all will follow, but change is coming. Great change. Strong TeamSeven.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! Looks like it's the start of yet ANOTHER story by me. Joy, right? Yeeeeah. Sorry about kinda, you know, stopping in the middle of writing another one. I wrote myself into a corner with the chapter I had been writing so I don't know where to go with that.**

**But I know what I'm doing for this! I swear, I'm totally prepared for this.**

***aside* Are they buying it? I think they're buying it.**

***back to the intro* Sooooo yeah. Read this and enjoy it. It's pretty. It's full. And it has the first fight I've ever written! You should all look forward to that, since I feel like I did a passable job with it.**

**Anyway, I'm going to stop stalling now! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Naruto: Redemption!**

**Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I have to do this. *flips a bunch of blank pages* Blah blah blah, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters/concepts/literally anything associated with it, blah blah blah. *flips more pages* Yeah, I agree that the price for writing this is only my immortal soul and that I will… Shit, not again! I sold my soul for the third time this week.**

* * *

The Mizuki incident was finally over. Naruto had learned the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)** and saved Iruka's life as well as his own. After that night, he was allowed to pass because of his outstanding show of bravery (or stupidity, if you want to look at it like that), and the fact that he learned a B-Rank Kinjutsu in a couple of hours. The fact that a genin learned a technique that was created by the Nidaime Hokage (Second Fire Shadow) and could make upwards of one hundred clones at a time shocked the entire ninja populace, save for his trusty grandfather-figure the Sandaime Hokage (Third Fire Shadow).

On top of all that stress, he had also found out that he was the container for the deadliest demon in all the Elemental Nations, the Kyuubi no Kitsune (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox), or the Kyuubi no Yoko. The very same demon that, only twelve years ago had tried to destroy Konohagakure no Sato (The Village Hidden in the Leaves), and took the life of his hero the Yondaime Hokage (Fourth Fire Shadow).

Despite all of the hardship he had gone through, he still managed to keep his ever-cheerful demeanor and never stopped smiling and pranking. That week he felt like he needed to get rid of his angst, which was likely from him starting to hit puberty, and went on a week-long pranking spree. For months, the people of his village would be checking behind their backs and around corners before going anywhere. Such is the price of harboring the wildest prankster the shinobi world has ever known.

One week later and it was finally time to be assigned to teams. This was the moment he was waiting for, he would get to be on a team with his Sakura-chan, and within the month he would be promoted to Hokage and take the hat from Hiruzen, or Jiji as he liked to call him. He would show to everyone that he was the best, and then everyone would respect and acknowledge him. He wouldn't let Sasuke-teme take his spotlight ever again, and he'd have his own hoard of fangirls.

Oh how little that boy truly knew about being a ninja.

As his team was announced, his heart sank into his stomach. At first he had been excited because he was grouped with Sakura, but his prior elation disappeared the moment he heard the name Sasuke Uchiha when Team Seven was being announced.

Sakura, on the other hand, had at first been devastated that she was with the class 'dobe', the talentless hack known only as Naruto Uzumaki. As she was ready to front-flip out the class window though, she perked up incrementally when she found out that she would be with 'her' precious Sasuke-kun. It was her time to show up Ino Pig and prove that she could win Sasuke's heart once and for all.

And lastly, there's Sasuke Uchiha. This was the second worst day of his life, coming up just short behind a 'certain day'. He was not only grouped with the class failure Naruto (whom he secretly wished to befriend, but was afraid to because it would ruin his reputation), but also with his 'Number One Fangirl' Sakura Haruno. Although he would never admit it, he could see Naruto's potential in the way his muscles would coil when he went to strike, and the way that he would unconsciously feint and try to weave around blows. He could force Naruto to get better when they were on missions as a team, if only to guard his back while he improved. He also figured that Sakura, since she was the class's top kunoichi, wouldn't be totally useless.

"So you guys have Kakashi Hatake, eh?" Asked a bearded Jonin revealed to be Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Hokage.

After getting blank stares and nods from the team, Asuma chuckled. "Well, be prepared to wait for a few hours. He's always late. C'mon you guys," He said to his team, "We've got to get going and get started."

And with that, he and the rest of Team Ten left Team Seven, minus a spiky-haired cyclops, to fend for themselves until said cyclops graced them with his presence.

Twenty minutes later, Naruto was jogging around the room just short of sprinting. All of that energy had to go somewhere, but nothing was helping him burn any of it.

"Sasuke-teme, let's fight." He said as he stopped abruptly.

"Hn." Was the only response he received.

"Naruto-baka, don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that. He needs to save his energy for when we start training." Sakura said, 'helpfully'.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, "I'm just really bored! I've got all this energy and no way to spend it!" He then proceeded to actually sprint around the room in hopes of expunging some of his pent up energy.

"Is that really as fast as you can run, dobe?" Sasuke asked in his typical 'I'm-Too-Good-For-Caring' voice.

"No!" Naruto shouted defensively. "I can go so much faster, just watch you jerk!"

And with that, Naruto really began pushing himself. He started running faster and faster, actually starting to surprise his teammates, though Sasuke didn't let it show. Sakura was openly gaping at him as he became a blur as he ran about the room.

That was until an oppressive aura began to bathe the room.

At that moment, a masked ninja with spiky silver hair and a headband covering his left eye appeared in the room.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake, I'll be your instructor. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He said calmly, while inside he was hoping that him distracting the team would get Naruto to stop tapping into his tennant's chakra. Whether they had known or not, Naruto included, Naruto still hadn't hit his top speed. One day he would be able to race the Yondaime Hokage, and likely win. **(A/N: For all you people who know about theatre, that was a Brechtian moment).**

Although he had been starting to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra, he hadn't actively drawn on any of it. Kakashi then made a mental note to help Naruto harness the Kyuubi's chakra safely, but for that he would need an old friend's help, as well as the Hokage's permission. But he could get both of those things at a later time.

Stopping in his tracks, Naruto had to wonder what had been happening. He had started to go faster and faster, but everything was just looking as clear as day. He had expected his surroundings to blur as he got faster, but it never did. Weird. He just figured it was because he was so awesome and decided to let it be with that.

Trudging up the stairs, their minds were all on different things and were working overtime.

Sakura was wondering just how Naruto had gotten that fast, and when he began being able to do that. Sasuke was wondering what that oppressive feeling he had felt when Naruto was reaching the peak of his speed. And lastly, Naruto was simply wondering about their mysterious sensei and how he managed to seem just so badass without looking like he tried. Hey, they didn't all have to be worrying about something important to be thinking hard.

As they reached the roof, they found their new sensei reading a little orange book, one that Naruto recognized well from the Hokage's desk. The other two members of his team were left wondering just what the book consisted of, but could safely guess it was Not-Safe-For-Work, considering the title and the giggles coming from their teacher. So much for mysteriousness and badassery.

As they sat down, he decided to put his book away, an act that would shock any of his colleagues.

"Alright," He said, "Why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time."

"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura asked intelligently (sarcasm). "Well, what are we supposed to say?"

"Things you like, things you hate. Dreams for the future, hobbies. Things like that." Was her only response from their jonin sensei.

"Why don't you go first sensei?" Naruto suggested. "I mean, none of us really know what to say, so shouldn't you give us an example?"

"Me?" Kakashi said. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like… Things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies? I have lots of hobbies."

"That was totally useless." Sakura muttered. "All he really told us was his name."

"Alright, now you guys go. You in the ugly orange jumpsuit, you go first."

Sweat dropping, Naruto stood up.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen cups, and I love Ichiraku ramen! I hate the three minutes you have to wait for ramen cups to cook. My hobby is collecting different kinds of ramen and eating them. My dream for the future is to be the next Hokage, and have everyone look up to me! Dattebayo!"

"Alright, that… Makes sense. You, Pinky. You're next."

"Oh, okay. I'm Sakura Haruno" Sakura said, taking her turn to stand. "Uhh, things I like are." She said as she glanced at Sasuke and giggled. "I mean, who I like is." More giggling, of course. "Uh, my hobby is, uh…" More of her incessant giggling. Kami help that poor girl. "My dream for the future is!" *Insert typical girlish squeal, or any assortment of irritating sounds girls make*.

"And what do you hate?"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted passionately.

"Hating a teammate isn't quite the way to be. Lastly, you go, short dark and emo."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have, is not a dream because I will make it a reality." Sasuke said, unknowingly exuding an aura of hatred and darkness. "I will restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." He said with finality.

"Alright, you're all unique and think differently. My first impression is... You're a bunch of idiots. But we can work through that, I suppose. Alright. We'll have our first training session tomorrow. It'll be survival training."

Before he could carry on, he was interrupted by a very perturbed Naruto.

"Survival training? We learned all of that boring stuff in the academy!"

"This isn't like anything you've experienced yet." Kakashi said, chuckling darkly. "If I explain much more, you really won't like it. Of the twenty-seven students who passed, only nine will actually become genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. This means you have a sixty-six percent chance to fail this test, so this is make it or break it."

Judging by the looks on their faces, none of them (save Sasuke of course) were confident about the next test.

"I said you wouldn't like it, didn't I?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"That's so ridiculous! We worked so hard to get here, dattebayo! You can't just send us back to the academy to go through that all over again! What was any of that for then?" Naruto shouted.

"Oh, that? That was just to select some people who might be good enough to be genin. Or not. That's how it is, so get over it. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at five AM sharp, and bring your gear."

That was when they started panicking. They all began wondering if they were going to pass, but resolved themselves for succeeding one way or another.

"Oh, and you'll probably want to forgo breakfast. Unless you like throwing up, then by all means eat." on that note, their jonin sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After that, they all headed home rather dejectedly. They were all scared, yes even Sasuke. They had no idea what to expect from their enigmatic teacher, and the things that they came up with weren't all too pleasant.

* * *

The next morning, they met up in Training Ground Number Seven at five in the morning, all of them except one without a moaning and groaning stomach.

"Naruto-baka, why isn't your stomach groaning like ours?" Sakura asked in an irritated fashion.

Scratching his head sheepishly, Naruto was hesitant to answer, as he knew that he was in for a punch in the head. "Well, you see Sakura-chan, I kinda forgot that we weren't supposed to eat, so I had some instant ramen for breakfast."

A moment later Naruto was on the ground cradling his head from the fury of a woman scorned. Sasuke seemed entertained, because he was chuckling at Naruto's misfortune. This of course drew Sakura's attention to him, thinking that he was impressed with what she did.

The next five hours consisted of Sakura fawning over Sasuke, Naruto shouting at Sasuke, Sakura punching Naruto in the head, and Naruto and Sasuke sparring (much to the reluctant acceptance of Sasuke). By the end of that time, Naruto and Sasuke were recovering their stamina when their sensei appeared out of nowhere, as he seemed to enjoy doing.

"I'm glad you're all here on time." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

At that a tick mark appeared on the heads of all of his students.

"Here on time?" Sakura fumed. "Kakashi-sensei, you said to be here hours ago! You're the one who's late!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got lost on the road of life, and a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way." Kakashi said, scratching his head sheepishly. Then he became all seriousness again. "I hope you all remembered what I said. Did any of you have breakfast?"

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei? I think I might have eaten just a bite before I came here." Naruto said warily.

"You think? Naruto, you either ate or didn't eat. Which was it?" Kakashi demanded of the frightened boy.

"I.. I ate." Was his tentative reply.

"Well, I'll have to keep that in mind for later." Kakashi said ominously. "Now let's get down to business. Like I said yesterday, this is a survival exercise." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells. "You three must try and each take one of these bells from me by, say, noon."

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells there!" Sakura pointed out.

"Precisely. If none of you get a bell, you all fail. But if two get a bell and one doesn't, the person who didn't take a bell is failed and sent back to the academy." Kakashi said, staring at them with a straight face. Kami, he has a good poker face. "In addition, whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of those posts over there, and will have to watch while the other two eat lunch."

Gaping at their crazy sensei, Team Seven was left speechless. Not only would they fail if they didn't get a bell, but they would have to watch their teammates eat lunch in front of them, while tied to a post? That would almost literally be torture!

Taking their looks of shock as understanding, Kakashi tied the bells to his pants. He then pulled a timer out and set it to go off at noon.

"There's just one more thing that you need to understand. You have to come at me with the intent to kill, because you won't get a bell any other way. Are you all ready? Well this should be fun."

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Jutsu!)**" Naruto shouted, causing ten copies of himself to appear in puffs of smoke. He then proceeded to charge their teacher with reckless abandon.

Weaving between his attempts at strikes, Kakashi had to chuckle. "Now Naruto, I never actually said go." He then seemingly effortlessly dispelled all of Naruto's clones and sent the real Naruto flying into the pond nearby.

As Naruto pulled himself onto the shore, Kakashi once again took a laid-back stance. "Now go."

On that signal, they all scattered. Not quite what he had expected, especially from Naruto, but it was acceptable one way or another. Instead of making an attempt to find his students, he simply pulled his little orange book out of a pocket on his flak-jacket and began to read from where he had left off.

* * *

_With Naruto_

He didn't know what to do. He obviously couldn't take Kakashi on by himself, he had already known that. What he had been hoping for was to give his teammates a chance to get out of his line of sight and take Kakashi on with him. Admittedly, he hadn't expected Kakashi to count that as a cheating head start, but he knew that as a ninja you had to take any advantages you could. He had learned at least that during his time at the academy.

'_I've got to find Sakura-chan and Sasuke, they'll be able to help me get a bell. I'm sure that we could take him on, it's not like he'd go all-out on a couple of kids, right? Okay, that's what I'll do.'_

Taking off from his perch on a tree, he decided to find one of his teammates, and then find the other.

* * *

_With Sasuke_

Sasuke was honestly not surprised by the most recent turn of events. Naruto decided to be stupid and charged a jonin solo, and Sakura had stood there doing nothing at all. Nothing really changed in the time that they had become genin (that being a few days prior), big surprise.

Being a genin didn't give you any crazy power-ups in comparison to being an academy student. There were no perks aside from a paycheck for the missions you would do.

Naruto had of course failed at taking on Kakashi, having just become a shinobi and all, but he had provided Sasuke with some time to find a good spot to hide when they scattered.

From his hiding place in the bushes around the clearing, Sasuke had a perfect view to watch as Kakashi relaxed in the center and read. He read that damn book, while not caring that there were three genin who were all very eager to take him on and get one of the bells that were sparkling in the sunlight.

'_I wonder what the dobe and Sakura are doing. Maybe they're just sitting, waiting like vultures. I mean, it's not like there's much else that either of them could do. Maybe I should go and test Kakashi myself. Yeah, that's a good idea.'_

As he was preparing to leap into the clearing, a very soft rustle came from behind him. He turned around to a sight that actually kind of shocked him.

It was Naruto. Crouched there in his glorious orange jumpsuit, the bane of stealth, with a finger to his lips indicating to stay quiet. Yet despite that eyesore, he had managed to approach Sasuke without being spotted. Maybe he wasn't totally inept. No, that couldn't be it, could it? No, surely not.

"Sasuke," He whispered, almost silently, "We need to find Sakura. It's no use trying to take a bell alone, he's way too strong for any of us."

"What do you know, dobe? I'm not you or Sakura. I can handle this myself." Sasuke said haughtily. While he knew that Naruto was right, that comment about Kakashi being too strong really 'rustled his Jimmies', as the saying goes. That being said, he was somewhat hoping Naruto would call him on it. Turns out, surprisingly, he did.

"Sasuke, you may think I'm stupid, and I may be, but I know you're not. There's no way we can take him on, even just the two of us. We need Sakura, even if she's just a distraction so we can get a bell each." Naruto said, shocking Sasuke once again. Was he being ruthless? It seemed like he had his own agenda. He never thought he would see something like this from Naruto, but there must be a first for everything.

"Okay." Sasuke whispered reluctantly. "We'll get her as a distraction, then we'll get the bells for ourselves." If this is what the dobe was truly like, he felt as though he would warm up to him rather quickly.

They took off without another word to look for their third and final teammate.

* * *

_With Sakura_

Sakura was totally unsure what to do in this situation. So she did what she usually did when she didn't know what to do. She walked. She wandered around in the forest just around the clearing, trying to think of how she could help their team succeed, but how they could all pass together.

But nothing was coming to her. Metaphorically of course, there were a few somethings that were literally coming to her.

Two of these somethings were her teammates Naruto and Sasuke. The other something was a quite potent genjutsu in the form of **Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)**.

As she stepped into another clearing, she saw a sight that chilled her to the bone. On the ground, laying bloodied and bruised was Sasuke. Her Sasuke-kun was injured and needed her help!

She couldn't do much other than scream.

The sight was horrifying. He had shuriken imbedded in him, and he had burns and cuts all over.

This took all of her attention until an unsightly orange blur (some would say it was more unsightly than the genjutsu) tackled her to the ground, breaking the genjutsu. The shock of smacking her elbow, uncovered by her clothing and left bare due to her lack of sufficient muscle-mass, actually kind of hurt.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Her Orange Saviour asked, concerned for her.

"N-Naruto? What happened? Where did Sasuke-kun go? He needs help, he's badly hurt!" She shouted in a panic, until Naruto covered her mouth.

"I don't know what you're talking about Sakura-chan. Sasuke's fine, he's looking around for Kakashi. He wasn't in the other clearing when we went to check if he was still there."

"But Naruto, Sasuke-kun is right-" She said before trailing off. This is because as she looked over to where Sasuke had been, bleeding out, his body began to dissipate. He shimmered out of view, as if he had never been there in the first place. "Uh, never mind. It must have been a genjutsu. I can't believe I fell for that! Kakashi-sensei actually trapped me in a genjutsu! I'm so pissed off right now!"

Letting go of Sakura, Naruto stood up and backed away. "Sakura-chan, do you think you can hold back until we regroup with Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively. He knew what it was like to be on her bad side. Two words describe it perfectly: Not. Fun. "We have a plan, but it's going to be pretty tough."

"What is it?" Sakura asked dangerously, an angry glow in her eyes.

"Well, it's really simple." Naruto said placatingly. "We're going to work together to take on Kakashi-sensei."

A flash of her FKI (the female version of KI, or killing intent, which is a natural female response to situations that anger them) was his only response.

As Naruto began backing away, Sasuke hopped into their clearing.

"Looks like he went back to the original clearing." Sasuke said. "We need to go there now, we're running out of time pretty quickly."

"Alright Sasuke, Sakura-chan. I'll enter first and divert him, leading Kakashi-sensei to the pond. Then Sakura-chan, you'll capture his attention while Sasuke jumps from the bushes and then we'll work together to get the bells."

Nodding, the three of them departed their little clearing together, with Naruto in the lead. Once they got near the clearing Kakashi was in, they split up. Sasuke began heading to his position, and Sakura dropped back a little bit further behind Naruto.

Naruto then burst into the clearing and made a dozen clones to try and help him herd Kakashi to the pond, with high hopes for his plan.

It was time to show that he knew what he was doing.

* * *

_With Kakashi_

Kakashi was more than surprised to see Naruto burst into the clearing and make several clones. He was even more surprised that he engaged him head on, once again, and actually began pushing him back. The success was more due to the desperation of the attack, and the fact that Kakashi was surprised, than any real skill, but catching Kakashi unawares was something nobody really expected from Naruto.

Kakashi knew when he was being led on, but he continued to let Naruto do so in the hopes that they had figured the test out. In all likelihood they hadn't, but one never knows.

Much to his surprise, once again, it was Sakura that burst out of the foliage while Naruto harassed him (pitifully), and began to do the brunt of the legwork. Sakura, for her lack of strength, did know what she was doing unlike Naruto. Her punches were aimed more from calculation and knowledge than from instinct and the heat of the moment. It seemed as though she had planned for throwing all of her punches, and planned accordingly for any counter that could be put up by her teacher. Suffice it to say, this surprised all of her observers.

Naruto then broke off and gave the affor-planned signal of making three more clones.

At that signal, Sasuke burst out of the underbrush and the battle began anew.

Charging ahead of both the original Naruto and Sasuke, the clones began to combat Kakashi and assist Sakura. They split off to flank the jonin, and then launched a simultaneous attack, coming from both sides.

To solve this issue, Kakashi did the simple action and ducked, but was confronted by the toe of Sasuke's ninja sandals. Catching Sasuke's foot, Kakashi stood and twisted, swinging the boy around to smack into the two clones that had engaged him ahead of the two boys.

The other remaining clones picked up a nearly exhausted Sakura and leapt away with her, surrounding her protectively in case their sensei decided to prioritize the tired girl.

"Just rest up a bit, Sakura-chan." One of the clones said with a big smile. "The boss will handle this with Sasuke and everything will be fine. Believe it!" That brought out a small smile from the winded girl, despite the difficult situation that they were faced with.

Back with Kakashi, he was being harried rather well by the two boys on his team. Despite all of the punches that were being thrown his way, and the kicks that followed up, Kakashi was smiling like a child beneath his mask. A team finally understood the point of the test they were faced with. They finally knew that the test was to make them work together to take on a foe that would be otherwise unbeatable.

Dodging a quick kick from Sasuke, Kakashi was about to call the test off and tell them that they passed the true test when he felt a sudden lightening around his pants. It seemed that Naruto had been opportunistic enough to get on of the two bells. That cause Kakashi to continue. Why you ask? Because he now felt slighted. He had actually lost one of the bells to a genin. Blocking the punch from Naruto, with the fist that likely held the stolen bell, Kakashi kicked the boy away when he felt another hand near the final bell. Thinking quickly, Kakashi substituted with a nearby log only to be confronted by a sight that caught him off-guard, for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. It was Sasuke, already back to standing straight with his hands flashing through handsigns that he knew well from his childhood. They were the signs for **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)**.

Flashing through the signs himself, he tried to match the chakra Sasuke was putting into the technique. Honestly, he was put off by the fact that a genin was able to use an elemental release, despite the fact that he was a certain murdering prodigy's brother.

The two jutsus clashed in a bright explosion of flames and chakra, meeting each other head on and essentially cancelling each other out.

In the wake of the fireball, Naruto leapt through the remaining flames that were obscuring Kakashi's field of vision while Sasuke skirted around and engaged from the side.

Blow after blow was blocked and countered, when a sight surprised Kakashi.

Naruto pulled a pair of goggles out from his jacket and put them on his face. With those on his head, he looked astonishingly similar to an old friend of his, the same friend who used the jutsu he had just used, and who had given him a very important gift that had let him perfect his own unique technique. That gift had also earned him his most notable moniker.

Taking advantage of this brief pause, Naruto pulled out a package from another pocket in his jacket and shouted, "Sasuke! Cover your eyes!" He then proceeded to blow a pile of dust into Kakashi's unprotected eye. The dust was much more abundant than it had seemed at first, and it filled the immediate area with thick cover of dust that got in Kakashi's eye, and all over him. Naruto decided to capitalise on this lapse of function by kicking his teacher in the head, hard enough to make him keel over.

Sasuke, being as opportunistic as ever, took this chance to dart in, cut off the last bell, and run out knowing that Kakashi wouldn't be disoriented for long.

Slowly getting up, Kakashi cleared his eye. He knew what had just happened. He had lost the test. His students had taken the bells. As his vision cleared, he saw Sakura standing with tears almost falling from her eyes. He knew something was being said, but he couldn't quite hear what it was. Maybe that's from being kicked in the head, rather hard.

* * *

_With the Students of Team Seven_

"Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry. Sasuke got the other bell." Naruto said sadly.

Sakura stood frozen. Naruto and Sasuke got the bells. She would have to watch them eat lunch while tied to a post, but more importantly she would have to go back to the academy. This was the worst day ever.

She didn't even respond when Naruto took her into a tight embrace. She didn't even notice when Naruto tied the first bell to her belt right away.

"Now I have to leave you with him. It's going to be tough on you, especially with a pervert as a teacher."

That's when the tears began to fall.

Kakashi, now approaching, heard that last sentence and had noticed Naruto give her the bell he had earned. He was touched that his student, even one he hadn't had time to grow to understand, was willing to sacrifice the beginning of his career for his teammate. He truly knew that self-sacrifice was a shinobi's duty. But most importantly, he knew that a shinobi without compassion was just a tool.

"Well Naruto, it looks like you… All pass." He said, ending the sentence with an eye-smile.

"W-What?" His students all stammered.

"The true point of this test was to see if you could work together as a team to take down an enemy that you had no hope of beating alone. You all worked together and even managed to get the bells. Naruto, if this had been a real battle, you would have been able to kill me with that dust trick of yours. Good job. Sasuke, you came up with a brilliant strategy to distract me and use everyone's talent to their best. And Sakura, your use of even the basics of combat, and the planning you put into each of your strikes was astounding. You really know how to handle yourself, but you lack the strength to put behind your attacks. I'm proud to say that you all pass, and are now officially shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato! I look forward to having you three as students for the foreseeable future."

"Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke said tentatively. "I'm actually not the one who came up with that strategy. Naruto did." Sasuke was almost grinding the last part out, but he knew it had to be said anyway.

"Really now? Naruto, you came up with that?"

A slow nod was his only response from the boy that looked as shocked as Kakashi felt.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, though I am kind of surprised. You really came up with something that worked really well. Your grades definitely belied your skills."

Scratching his head, Naruto was unsure how to respond, but did so to the best of his abilities anyway. "Well Kakashi-sensei, it really wasn't that hard to figure out. It was obvious that we wouldn't be able to beat you if you knew where we all were and what we were doing, so the best option was to lead you somewhere that we could control the situation."

Hearing this shocked his teammates, and made his teacher swell with pride.

"Nevertheless Naruto, it was very efficient and smart. Also, it was good that you ate. In a way, you didn't blindly follow orders. But you should have brought something for your teammates, just in case. You see, a shinobi who breaks the rules is trash, but a shinobi for forsakes their comrades is worse than trash. And that that dust trick you pulled was pretty good. But don't let that get to your head, I was going easy on you all so I hadn't been expecting something like that. I guess being the prankster that the village fears leads you to some ingenious ideas, doesn't it?"

"Well… Yeah, I guess it kind of does." Naruto said oh so modestly.

"Anyway, I'm going to head out and report to the Hokage that you all passed. We'll meet at the Hokage Tower in one week to go on our first real mission as a team." With that, their enigmatic teacher disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After some more heartfelt words, the members of Team Seven headed to their separate homes, all content with the day's events.

Once they got home, both Sasuke and Sakura realised that they still had the bells. They decided to keep them though, as a reminder of what they could do if they worked together.

* * *

_Hokage's Office_

Hiruzen Sarutobi was quite pleased with the results from Team Seven. He knew that Kakashi was on his way, but he couldn't help but smile gleefully into his crystal ball as the members of Team Seven made idle conversation and then left to rest.

He couldn't be more proud of his Naruto-kun.

* * *

**Hey guys! Well, that was the first chapter of my new story Redemption. I know, it's a cheesey title, but what more can you expect from a seventeen year old? Something creative? Gosh, lower your expectations people.**

**But in all seriousness, I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review saying what you thought of the combat scene, and what I could change to make scenes in the future more intense.**

**There's going to be some filler between my next large goal, the Wave Arc, but I hope to make it enjoyable.**

**Sorry to cut this outro short, but it's two in the morning and I'm tired after having written the most that I've ever put into a single chapter.**

**Take note of the fact that I'm writing the outro before even the into/disclaimer. That's a product of writing at two in the morning.**

**So I bid you all a good night/morning/afternoon/whenever you happen to read this! Once again, I hope you all enjoyed and look forward to future chapters. Review please, it really helps me out and kinda builds my confidence. I'm going to start writing the next chapter at some point after I wake up, but god knows that's not happening right now. Goodness gracious, I'm tired!**

**RahvinsCage, out!**

**P.S. I know this is the third story I've started, but I actually know where I want to go with this story (the title should be a big giveaway), so I'm more inspired to write this than my other stories which only had the very basest ideas of what would happen in the far future.**

**Oh god, it's the cops! Looks like I've got to cheese it! Bye people!**


	2. Chapter 2: Dreaded D-Ranks

**I'd like to start this off by saying, oh my god. I cannot believe I didn't notice how absolutely cheesey the title of this story is, and the description of it. It's cheesier than a double-bacon cheeseburger! I mean, 'Redemption!', really me? I know I'm the master of lame, but this is a whole new level ;-;**

**In any event, I liked writing this, but then I took a break because school is stupid. Exams are this week, and by the time I'm writing this disclaimer/intro thing I finished my Drama exam about six hours ago. Now, to face my fears. Music theory. Dear god, this should be interesting. Does anyone know about enharmonic equivalents?**

**Pfft, I'm… Totally kidding… I studied. Kinda.**

**And now, with no more procrastinating and bullshit;**

**Here's the second chapter of Naruto: Redemption!**

**Disclaimer: Oh, and I don't own Naruto. No matter how much I pray to the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster (yes, that's apparently a thing), I shall never truly own it.**

Team Seven had just finished their third D-Rank mission of the day, and they were not impressed. This was the fourth week of them being ninja, and none of them saw any kind of combat. All they were doing was walking the Inuzuka clans dogs, helping old ladies with their groceries, and painting fences. But they had gotten what the Hokage had promised to be an 'exciting' mission. They had to track someone, or rather something, down and capture it for the Daimyo.

Well, the Daimyo's wife.

The exciting mission they were promised was nothing other than catching the dreaded cat Tora. This was the first time they had to do it, but judging by the stories from their friends from the academy, they had to look forward to chasing the evil cat down many more times. Needless to say, they were not excited at all by that mission, and even less so by the mission they had just been assigned.

They had to babysit for a group of mothers. A very large group of mothers.

Now, they all had different reasons for not being impressed by their assignment. For Naruto, it was simply because he didn't like children. They were always so self-centered and had no empathy towards each other or anything else whatsoever. For Sasuke, it was because it reminded of the times before a 'certain day', when he and his friends in his clan would play in the streets while an unlucky team of genin watched over them. And for Sakura, it was not because she didn't like children, like with Naruto. In fact, she loved children. She was always careful and watchful to make sure they never got hurt.

No, it was because children didn't like her. Children old enough to enroll in the academy thought she was a stick in the mud, toddlers thought a number of different things, including gems such as; She smelled funny, she had 'silly' pink hair that they loved to tug at, and Naruto's favourite 'Miss Ninja Lady, why do your teammates look so strong, but you look so weak?'. And as for babies, they just cried when she held them, or even got near them. They cried a lot.

Kakashi on the other hand, was having the time of his life. He was playing with the children, tossing them in the air, reading to them (very quietly, no surprise there), and showing them how to get their snacks from the high cupboards that their mom's hid them in.

All in all, it was a horrible day for the students of Team Seven, and a great day for their sensei.

The next morning was scheduled to be their first major training session though, and they all had that to look forward to on the horizon. They all expected an intense day of training, and they were surely not going to be disappointed.

By the time the next day rolled around, Team Seven was up bright and early in the morning, like every other day the past week. This time though, they were up to train instead of taking missions in the morning.

When all the students of Team Seven had gathered at Training Ground Seven, they were faced by a sight that both shocked them and scared them at the same time.

It was Kakashi. On time.

Needless to say, it put the fear of Kami into them.

Noticing that his team had stopped when they saw him, Kakashi decided to approach them.

"Hello, my cute little genin." Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Are you all looking forward to training?"

All of them just nodded dumbly.

"Good, because you'll be out here all day. I have a rigorous exercise for you three. It takes finesse, agility, and all the willpower you're able to muster."

"Oh, what is it sensei? Tell us, tell us please!" Pleaded Naruto, eccentric as always.

"You'll be learning how to climb a tree." Kakashi responded, never dropping his eye-smile despite the sweat-drops that formed on the faces of his students.

"But Kakashi-sensei, we already know how to climb trees!" Whined Sakura.

"You may be able to climb trees, but can you do it… Without using your hands?" Kakashi said, letting his eye-smile dissipate as he reached the end of his statement.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't talk crazy. How are we supposed to climb trees without hands?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Watch and learn, you three."

With that, Kakashi put his hands in the Tiger hand seal and began moulding his chakra, slowly enough for them to notice what was happening.

Around their sensei's feet, a small outline appeared around his feet signifying the chakra built up around them. Kakashi then placed his feet on the tree, and began to slowly but surely walk up the tree as though it were the simplest thing in the world. In regards to the shinobi arts, it may have been, but to the stunned genin it seemed like the purest form of badass.

When he reached the top of the tree, he turned to his team and just looked at their varying expressions. Naruto, of course, looked like he witnessed Kami walk out of the tree. Sasuke simply stared, a little more wide-eyed than you would expect an Uchiha to be. And lastly, Sakura was just casually watching, having realised how Kakashi had walked up the tree.

Kakashi then nodded to himself, pulled three kunai knives from the pouch on his leg, and threw them down to his gravity-bound team.

"Channel your chakra to your feet, then try and get up the tree with a running start, then mark how high you get with one of those kunai. Simple enough?" He asked, getting a round of nods as a response. "Good, if that's the case I think I'll leave you to it. Good luck. Oh, and don't put too much chakra into your feet, or you'll be in for a scare." On that note, Kakashi pulled his book out of a pocket on his flak-vest and hopped off in the direction of the village, giggling all the while.

The genin just stood there for a few minutes, before Naruto decided to break the silence.

"Anyone wanna know what happens if there's too much chakra?" He asked with a shit-eating grin on his face.

His team-mates just looked at him blankly, before they both nodded slowly.

With his grin getting even larger than before, Naruto placed his hands in the Tiger seal and channeled -what seemed like to the other genin- a huge amount of chakra into his feet before sprinting by and grabbing the kunai on the way. In truth, it wasn't even enough to be considered a fraction of his reserves, but the amount is all a matter of perspective.

Approaching the tree at a semi-high speed, Naruto set one foot on the tree and got a few steps up before being violently launched backwards in a massive cloud of dust and splintered wood.

Skidding on the ground, Naruto passed Sakura and Sasuke and kept going for a good ten seconds. At the speed he was going, he got a good twenty-six meters away from his team-mates before he stopped.

Sakura was running after him to see if he was alright, but Sasuke was simply standing there staring at the tree. Or rather, what was left of the tree. As the dust settled, the shattered stump of the tree was revealed and the rest of the tree was leaning against the trees past it, presumably where it made it's crash landing.

"Naruto." Sasuke said, still somewhat shocked.

"Ugh… Yeah teme?"

"Do that again." Sasuke said shortly.

"Are you kidding me?! That hurt! I may have been the dead-last, but I'm not that stupid!"

"That's not it, dobe. I've got a bit of a theory."

"Well tell me what it is and maybe I'll do it." Naruto said, half serious.

"How about you do it, and I… Buy you ramen." Sasuke said, knowing he would regret the choice.

Hearing the words 'buy you' and 'ramen' in the same sentence was all the incentive Naruto needed. Picking up the kunai that landed a few feet away from him, Naruto channeled almost the exact same amount of chakra to his feet, much to the surprise of his team-mates and a currently unnoticed guest.

He then ran at a second innocent tree (the bastard) and, with much the same effect, was blasted back a second time. This time though, Sasuke was watching the tree instead of Naruto and noticed how the tree buckled on the third step Naruto made. Having (technically) trained with Naruto for a few months, Sasuke knew that Naruto only put his full weight down on the third step when running up anything, whether it was a hill, a set of stairs, or apparently a tree.

"Dobe, I think you may have just invented a jutsu." Sasuke said, trying to be as quiet as possible in the hopes that Naruto didn't actually hear him. His hopes were all for naught, as not a heartbeat later he heard an obnoxious shout of 'WHAT?!' and regretted the sentence for the next twenty minutes.

Those twenty minutes were filled with Naruto asked endless amounts of questions like 'What should I call my jutsu?', 'Wasn't that badass?', and his personal least favourite 'Aren't I so cool?'. All of these questions were responded to by Sasuke with either his typical grunt of 'Hn' for the least stupid questions, or 'Shut the hell up' for most.

At the end of those twenty minutes, Naruto decided to give up for the time being on naming his new jutsu, and just decided to focus on actually learning the tree-walking exercise.

Knowing how much was too much, Naruto decided to find out how much too little. He soon turned to Sakura, who had already made it to the top of her tree, for advice.

"Well Naruto, you need to find a balance. If you use too much you get blasted off the tree and if you use too little you'll just fall off. So, like I said, just find the right balance and you'll be fine." Sakura said with a genuine smile. For all of her annoyance, Sakura had been somewhat amused by Naruto's stream of questions about his 'new awesome jutsu'. Thus resulting in the smile.

Three hours later, they decided to call it a morning and all went out to Ichiraku Ramen.

Bursting through the flaps of the small ramen stand, Naruto had the widest grin Teuchi or Ayame had seen since he had graduated the academy a few months ago.

"Mister Rookie of the Year here decided to buy me ramen if I found a way to beat myself up. Needless to say, I succeeded!" Naruto shouted happily, not caring how it sounded at all.

Teuchi simply exchanged a look with his daughter, then looked at Sasuke questioningly. Sasuke slowly nodded, feeling as though the Shinigami was standing behind him.

"What'll it be Naruto, the usual?"

"No, Old Man, I think I'm gonna show some restraint. Team dynamic and stuff, ya know? Get me three pork ramen, and a veggie ramen to change it up a little bit."

Sakura of course thought the shocked looks on the faces of the stand owner and his daughter were because Naruto had ordered four bowls of ramen all to himself. If only she knew beforehand that it was because he wasn't going to eat more than a measly four bowls.

Laughing, Teuchi and Ayame recovered from their shock quickly.

"Come on Naruto, are you trying to drive me out of business?" Teuchi asked semi-jokingly to their number one customer.

"He has a point Naruto," Sakura said in her typical lecture-y voice, "That's a little much don't you think?"

Laughing even harder, Ayame needed to lean on the counter to catch her breath.

"No, miss, that's not the case at all! You see, Naruto is our number one customer and it's for a good reason. He usually eats anywhere upwards of ten bowls of ramen in a visit!"

Gaping, Sakura was in shock as to how Naruto had survived up until they became a team. Sasuke had widened his eyes ever so slightly, not showing how glad he was that Naruto actually seemed to know the meaning of restraint.

After watching Naruto almost literally inhale his ramen, and chatting Team Seven parted ways for the rest of the day, deciding to focus on their own personal training regiment.

Throughout the entire village, all night, the distant cries of 'damn it' and other various curses could be heard from the sector Naruto lived in.

**A/N: Sorry for the somewhat abrupt end, I decided not to drag it out too much because it would simply fall flat and be horribly written.**

**But in any event, this has been the second chapter of Naruto: Redemption!**

**I hope you all enjoyed it, short as it was, and come back for the next chapter ^_^**

**As always, review and P.M. me any ideas or thoughts and some such, and maybe I'll read it, maybe I'll incorporate your ideas. Who knows? You never know until you try!**

**RahvinsCage, out!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Strong Blast

**Hey all! New chapter, coming at you! Sorry it's late, but I'll explain why later, and stop this from being long-winded.**

**New chapter! I choose you!**

**Disclaimer: Oh, and… I don't own this shit. Just the original ideas. Not even those, actually. *Softly weeps***

Three weeks later, Naruto was found by his team mates bouncing up and down in the center of Training Ground Seven, obviously excited about something. The fact that it was five in the morning didn't seem to matter very much to Naruto.

Sakura had the feeling that he had been there for much longer than it seemed, despite the fact that he was bouncing vigorously.

"Naruto, what are you doing here, and why the hell did you send clones to wake us up?" Sakura asked, seething.

"I finished it!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Finished what?" Sakura asked, confused by his exclamation.

"My new jutsu! It's so awesome, I made it all by myself!"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "If it's so awesome, why not show it off?"

"I will teme, I was waiting to build up the dramatic effect."

"Naruto-kun, it's not fair to wake us all up and then make us wait for you to show off." Kakashi said, appearing behind Naruto in a Shunshin.

"But Kakashi-sensei, you were already up! So was Sasuke-teme. And I think Sakura-chan muttered something about-" Naruto began, before being cut off by Sakura as she covered his mouth with her hand.

"N-Naruto wasn't going to say anything." She said, applying pressure to Naruto's head. "Right, Naruto?"

After Naruto nodded hurriedly, Sakura went back to gazing at Sasuke from right beside him, but not before shooting Naruto a warning glare.

"Okay…" Kakashi said. "Now that that's all done, are you actually planning on showing us your jutsu, or can we all just go home now? We don't have to meet up for another two hours."

"Well, yeah Kakashi-sensei! Duh." Naruto said as he walked up to the nearest tree.

It was then that Team Seven's other members noticed the felled trees.

The clearing was easily fifteen feet larger, and considering the amount of trees that there were, that was a considerable distance.

"Are you guys ready for the coolest thing ever?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yes Naruto," Sasuke said, "Just get this over with so I can get back to sleep."

"Alright. I call it… **Tsuyoi Bura Suto no Jutsu (Strong Blast Jutsu)**!"

With that, he called out the name of his technique, and threw a palm-strike at the tree in front of him.

A resounding crash sounded, and the tree was sent flying. Naruto was still in place though, which was odd seeing as the tree had roots, so Naruto should have been the one sent flying.

"Naruto." Sakura said, stunned. "What the hell was that!"

"Hehe, well Sakura-chan, it's really simple. Using the tree-climbing exercise, I came up with this! Since you get sent flying if you put too much chakra into it, I figured I could do the same to the tree, or a person. I send chakra to my feet to keep me in place, then I expel chakra from my… My… Sakura-chan, what is it that chakra comes out of again?"

"Tenketsu, Naruto. They're chakra-points." She responded, sweat-dropping.

"Yeah, my tenketsu! So, I expel chakra from my tenketsu, but I can do it with more than just my hands. I can use all of them! I'm just trying to figure out how to do it from all of them at once…"

"Naruto, that's like the Hyuuga's method of fighting." Kakashi said. "If you want advice, I can ask a colleague of mine to see if he can get his student to help you."

"That would be so cool of you Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said, running to Kakashi and jumping on him in a hug. Kakashi was stunned, because he hadn't been hugged in a long time.

Slowly, Kakashi wrapped his trembling arms around the small boy, a tear dropping down his face from his lone eye.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?" Naruto asked, concerned for his teacher and role model.

"Y-Yes Naruto. I think I am." Kakashi said. "Alright," He said, pulling himself together, "It looks like that's all he had to show us. Let's meet up again in… An hour and a half and we can train some more before we go see the Hokage for a mission." With that said, he disappeared in a Shunshin, leaving a thoroughly confused team in his wake.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going to go sleep for that hour and a half. See ya." Sasuke said, as aloof as ever. Inside though, he was wondering if he could get Naruto to teach him that jutsu.

"Goodbye Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted, as shrilly as ever. "See you, Naruto. Good job with the jutsu by the way!"

"Thanks Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied beaming as the girl left. Then something hit him. Something Kakashi said. "Hyuuga." He muttered. "Who do I know who has the name Hyuuga… Oh yeah! Hinata! Hm… She's a little weird… Oh well, I guess I can't really say anything about weird people. I mean, I am talking to myself."

With that said (strangely though it was), Naruto headed out to find the Hyuuga Clan compound.

**Hyuuga Clan Compound - Twenty Minutes Later**

Walking up to the door, Naruto knocked loudly. And he kept knocking until a very irate clan member with a strange mark on his forehead answered the door.

"Yes, what is it Naruto-san?" The nameless clan member asked.

"Oh, I was wondering if I could talk to-" He said before realising something. "Wait a second… You're not going to call me 'demon-brat'?"

His reply was a simple shake of the head, in the negatory.

"You're not going to spit on me, or kick me? Or anything?"

"No, of course I'm not." The clan member said, looking askance at Naruto. "We of the Branch House of the Hyuuga clan know how it is to be stuck with a seal, without our choice. Now, what was it that you wished?"

"Uh, I was wondering if I could speak with Hinata for a bit." Naruto said, somewhat wary. He knew that the clans had been informed that he knew about the Kyuubi, but he figured nobody would treat him… Kindly. Like a human being.

"I will ask Hiashi-sama if he will permit you a meeting with Hinata-sama. Please, come in and sit. But take your sandals off, I would rather not have to clean so early in the morning." The nameless man said with a small smile.

Doing as Naruto was told, he waited. And waited. And waited some more.

After what felt like forever, the nameless clan member returned with a note, and handed it to Naruto. It was a note from Hiashi.

_Naruto-kun,_

_I am sorry I could not welcome you to my household myself, but as you know it is rather early in the morning. I would like you to know that you need not knock, for you are always welcome in my clan's home. As a fellow Leaf Ninja, and a friend of your father, I give you mostly unrestricted access to my home. I would just like to request you come see me some time, and maybe I can tell you something of your father, though I cannot say who he is. I truly am sorry that I am too busy right now to see you, but know that I will at some point in the near future._

_Regards,_

_Hyuuga Hiashi_

_P.S.: Hinata is in the training ground, likely preparing to meet with her team. Hideo, the man bringing you this note, will show you to her._

Eyes widening, he looked between the note and the man, Hideo. He simply couldn't believe it. It must be too good to be true. Someone actually knew who his father was, and was going to tell Naruto about him! Granted, he wouldn't actually find out the name of his father, but he would learn about him. What he was like, how good he was as a ninja, anything! He was so excited, but he pushed that back, which took a lot of willpower on his part.

"Now then, let us go see Hinata-sama. Come along Naruto-san." Hideo said, smiling as he knew exactly what was going through the boy's mind.

All Naruto could do right then was nod dumbly, and follow behind Hideo.

Soon enough, after walking through the corridors of the Hyuuga Clan compound, Naruto and Hideo arrived at the personal training ground of the Hyuuga's.

It was big. Really big.

While it was simply an open space, it was a large open space, on the inside of an even larger compound. It had a bare field with the exception of a tree in the corner, an open roof to let the sunlight in, and two girls, one taller than the other, sparring furiously.

They looked almost as though they were dancing, with the taller of the two, Hinata, whirling around the shorter as each blow would almost land. It continued like that for a time, before Hinata easily restrained the smaller girl.

"Hinata-oneesama! You have to let me get better somehow!"

"I'm trying Hanabi-imoto, but if you're not good enough to get a hit on me, how will you ever land one on father?"

Hideo cleared his throat politely, hoping to keep things from getting out of hand. While Hinata was a timid girl, her sister was nothing like her in that respect. Her sister was very brash, and easy to anger.

"Hinata-sama, you have a visitor by the name of Uzumaki Naruto."

The girl squeaked, and stood up off her sister, quickly dusting… Dust off of her clothing. Go figure.

"H-Hello Naruto-kun. W-What are you doing here at a time like this?" She asked quietly.

"Well Hinata, I was wondering if you could give me some advice." He said, somewhat sheepishly. After all, he liked to learn things on his own. Even so, he knew how to ask for help when he needed it.

"W-What's the problem N-Naruto-kun?" She asked, still embarrassed but worried about the boy.

"Well, it goes like this. I made my own cool jutsu, but it's kinda like your fighting style. You know, expelling chakra? Something about it is different though, and I can't quite tell what it is. But that's not the issue. I'm trying to improve it, because I can expel the chakra for the jutsu from all of my tenketsu, but I can't do it at the same time. So, I was wondering if you could maybe… HelpmebecauseyourfightingstyleissocoolandIreallywannafinishmyjutsu." He said, rushing the last sentence.

Hinata though was totally shocked. The boy she looked up to and admired wanted her help? Of course she would give it!

"Of course Naruto-kun!" She said, a little too loudly for her tastes. She had also not stuttered, which only served to boost her confidence. While she could feel her face heating up, she was resolved to push through it. She wouldn't faint when her help was needed!

"Hinata, that's so awesome of you! C'mon, let's go to my training ground and I'll show you how it works."

As the saying goes though, all good things must come to an end. The thought of going to Naruto's training ground with him, alone, set perverted thoughts through her head. Her face abruptly went a bright shade of red, and she passed out with a trail of blood dripping down her nose.

"Did… Did I hit Hinata-oneesama after all?" Hanabi asked innocently. Naruto just stared dumbly, but Hideo knew what was going through Hinata's head. After all, it wasn't too hard to notice how Hinata felt about Naruto.

"Hanabi-sama, why don't you go with Hinata-sama and Naruto-san on their little excursion? It should be an interesting learning opportunity for you." He suggested helpfully.

"That's a great idea Hideo-oniisan!" Hanabi shouted excitedly. "Naruto-san, can you tell me how your jutsu works?"

"Sure! Well, it works by-"

That took up the majority of the ten minutes it would take for Hinata to wake up. Naruto explained to Hanabi the mechanics of his jutsu in great detail, and he found out that Hanabi didn't understand the tree-climbing exercise.

So, Hinata woke up to the sight of Hanabi running full tilt at a tree, and Naruto standing by and letting it happen. What she didn't expect though, was Hanabi running up the tree a few feet, before slipping off and falling to the ground.

'_Oh yeah,'_ She thought _'Kurenai-sensei said something about tree climbing. Maybe in return for my help, Naruto-kun will teach me this. Then I'd be ahead of Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, and they'd know I'm not dead weight!'_

After a short apology, Hinata, Naruto and Hanabi all went to Training Ground Seven together to help Naruto work on his jutsu.

Arriving at Training Ground Seven, the women of the trio was treated to quite the shocking sight. Before their eyes was Naruto's own sensei, Kakashi, giggling perversely at a small orange book. The girls knew quite well what the book was, because they had been training their Byakugan and had found their father, Hiashi Hyuuga, reading the small book. With their vaunted 'All-Seeing Eyes', they were able to read the book along with him, thus discovering what the book contained.

With small 'Eep!'s coming from both of them, they had abruptly passed out. Obviously Hanabi, being the hot head she was, had confronted her father about the book. That had gone… Oddly. First, her father had sputtered. Then he had been angry, reprimanding his daughter for having 'read over his shoulder'. And lastly, he wept (cliché anime tears, of course), begging his daughter not to think wrongly of him, and not to tell Neji of the book, lest he fall prey to his family's curse.

Hanabi had no idea what the curse was, but she found it prudent not to tell her cousin of the book.

Needless to say, the pair had hated the book (or, Hinata made it seem like so for appearance's sake). They decided to stalk up to Kakashi and tear the book from his hands, and toss it on the ground.

Or, they tried to.

Kakashi swiftly leaped over them, still reading his book, and pulled a hidden wire taught, snagging the sisters in ninja wire.

"You can fight me. You can try to maim me. Hell, you can succeed at maiming me. But never, EVER, try and harm the precious." He said, looking briefly up from his book with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"H-Hai Kakashi-san/Kakashi-sensei." The girls said nervously, unconsciously in tandem.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Well Naruto, you see, this is a training ground. This is where people sometimes come to do some certain things. You know, eat, hunt. Maybe, I don't know. Train?" Kakashi replied condescendingly.

"Oh yeah! We have to train for a while, right?"

"Yes, Naruto. We have team training. But I assume you brought these ladies to ask them something about your new jutsu?"

"Ahh, yeah!" Naruto responded, scratching his head sheepishly. "So, do you two want to see it?"

"Y-Yes Naruto-kun." Hinata said, nodding vigorously.

"Okay, here goes nothing. **Tsuyoi Bura Suto no Jutsu (Strong Blast Jutsu)**!" He shouted, spinning to slam his palm on the nearest tree.

The concussive explosion of chakra shot the tree flying through other trees behind it.

"GOD DAMMIT NARUTO!" A feminine voice shouted from the trees. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME, BAKA!"

"Oh no," Naruto said, weeping anime tears, "I almost killed Sakura-chan! What if she hates me now? What if, because she hates me, I never get married? I'll never have children! I'll lose the will to fight, and die in battle, crying for Sakura to help me."

Somewhere in Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning), a young man with a shock of white hair sneezed, launching a lollipop from his mouth.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed. "What if I'm getting sick? Maybe it means I have some obscure disease! Maybe I'll be-"

***THUMP***

"Shut the hell up, Omoi!" A redheaded girl shouted.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, walking out of the opposite side of the clearing, "she's not going to hate you for something small like this. Now would you shut up and ask these two what you need to so they can leave?"

"Oh, uh, yeah!" Naruto said. "Uh, Hinata-chan, I was wondering about being able to expel chakra from all of my tenketsu. I heard from Kakashi-sensei that your clan's fighting style revolves mainly around that, so I was hoping you could help me!"

"Y-You're right N-Naruto-kun. The J-Jūken (Gentle Fist) is based around expelling ch-chakra from our tenketsu i-into an enemy's chakra system t-to seal their tenketsu. T-There's a technique called Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven) t-that seems to be similar to what you want to do. I'd s-say that if you w-want to be able to e-expel chakra from m-more t-tenketsu that you should practice expelling it f-from a f-few at a time." Hinata said, showing more insight into the subject than she had thought she possessed.

"Wow! Thanks Hinata-chan! That's awesome advice! I'll keep that in mind and practice that sometime!" Naruto replied with a foxy grin painted across his face.

At the sight of his excited face, Hinata's own face heated up, turned the colour of a tomato, and she promptly passed out.

Again.

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. And, you know, the shitty end to the chapter. You know how the life of someone going to school is. You get by, day by day, hoping to find some way to entertain yourself.**

**But, I have a decent excuse (yes, it really is an excuse, no matter how true it is.)**

**I'm working on an island! In a kitchen. Far, far away from home. You guys know how it is, working and such. It leaves so little time! I mean, I knew the internet was going to be horrible, but damn!**

**Anyway, I hope you weren't disappointed by the chapter. I hope you liked the jutsu! I hope you like the idea of it evolving, because it will be like the Rasengan. There are going to be variations. They're going to be tough to come up with, so I expect some help in that department.**

**TL;DR: Sorry it's late, hope you like it, et cetera.**

**Review, if you feel so inclined. If not, ow, my feelings. Anyway, PM me or review any ideas you have for where the story can go, and how it can get there!**

**RahvinsCage, signing out.**


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